I tried to reply to you personally, but the e-mail address doesn't work.


I flew a D, as well as various other prop fighters as a civilian operator.
Never flew ours with external tanks. The airplane is stable on takeoff if
flown correctly and I wouldn't anticipate any specific issues with the
external tanks except the extended run. I believe the only caution on the
external tanks was for high speed buffet above 400 mph.
We had the fuselage tank removed and only flew the Mustang using the 2 mains
at 92 gallons each.(90 usable)
If you are interested in a pilot report on what it was like to fly the D, I
did one for the Warbirdalley site some years ago at the following ;
http://www.warbirdalley.com/articles/p51pr.htm#pirep1
Hope you find the report interesting.
Dudley Henriques

Thanks for putting me on to that pilot report, that was very interesting
to read.
The overall feeling I got from it was of an aircraft that takes a lot of
effort to get fully attuned to and in sync with, but is capable of doing
outstanding things once you get enough hours in on it and understand how
it behaves.
I particularly liked your description of starting the Merlin up. :-D
You mentioned you had flown several types of prop driven fighters, what
other ones did you fly?
I once talked to a Navy pilot of a Grumman Bearcat who was very taken by
that aircraft.
About the most fascinating conversation I ever had with a pilot was
years ago after the Soviet Union had just fallen who flew a two-seater
TA-4J Skyhawk to the Minot N.D. airshow. He worked for Navy R&D and had
done three tours in Vietnam with the A-4.
His backseater was in awe of him, and like most really competent combat
pilots, he was one of the easiest-going down-to-earth guys you ever ran
into... no attitude, no mirrored sunglasses, no waxed mustache.
The reason he was there was that the Ukrainian Air Force had sent a pair
of MiG-29's on a U.S. tour, and the Navy wanted to see what they could
do aerobatically and try to get some insight into what they'd do if they
came up against a FA-18, so they had him and his inconspicuous Skyhawk
following them around the airshow circuit and observing them in action.
One thing we both noticed was the effortless way the Fulcrum could
ignite its afterburner stages; this is apparently nearly fully
automatic- the pilot merely advances the throttle, and the aircraft
senses airspeed, g forces, air density, and what type of maneuver is
going on and gives the amount of afterburner required. The MiG was going
in and out of various degrees of afterburner at several points during
even fairly simple aerobatic maneuvers.
He had been in on the abortive A-12 program, and his take on it was that
the Navy screwed over General Dynamics because it wanted to spend money
elsewhere after the end of the cold war; he described flying the
simulator and stated that he thought it was an excellent aircraft,
particularly complementing the pilot's view out of the cockpit, which he
said was truly outstanding.

Pat